The Consumer Product Safety Commission reported in 2014 that there were 24,000 emergency room cases related to treadmills (Fottrell, MarketWatch, May 5, 2015. Web. Accessed Jun. 12, 2016). Moreover, there were an average of three deaths per year related to such incidents between 2003 and 2012. In a high profile example, David Goldberg, the former CEO of Survey Monkey, fell off a treadmill on May 1, 2015 and thereby died of head trauma and bleeding (Goel and Randal, The New York Times. The New York Times, May 4, 2015; Web. Accessed Jun. 12, 2016; Washington Post. The Washington Post, n.d. Web. Jun. 12, 2016). Mr. Goldberg went to run at around 4 P.M. in the afternoon and was discovered by his brother at 7 P.M. in a state of unconsciousness albeit alive. Nobody was notified when Mr. Goldberg fell and during a time period when health interventions could have been performed to increase the likelihood of survival.
These facts highlight that treadmills are the most dangerous type of exercise equipment that people use. Treadmills are so popular that over 50 million people use them every year and they continually outsell all other types of exercise equipment by a large margin. In addition, the number of treadmill related injuries has nearly tripled in the past 20 years due to the fact that running is becoming increasingly popular and that many people, especially in colder climates, choose to run on a treadmill for exercise purposes. Also, accidents are on the rise because people are becoming more distracted when they run by, for example, TVs, books, and other portable personal electronic entertainment devices. In the three years following the introduction of the iPhone®, the number of treadmill-related accidents rose more than 45% (see Injury Statistics. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Web. Jun. 12, 2016).
There are devices that have tried to prevent these injuries. The most common solution is the use of a safety key. There are little to no statistics related to this device, but based on anecdotal evidence, very few people use this device. Many people find the safety key intrusive. In addition, safety keys are not user-configurable and provide no means of notification to other people (e.g., emergency contacts) for help. Another popular approach is the harness and suspension system (as exemplified, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,432, or as shown in Kaye® Suspension Walkers, Kaye Products, Inc., Hillsborough, N.C.). This type of system has many drawbacks, including extreme monetary expense and invasiveness that is more than that for safety keys. Harness and suspension treadmills are also pre-configured such that they do not work on all treadmills and/or do not generally conform for useability for everyone. If a runner falls and injures herself, there is no mechanism in place that would notify anybody else, such as emergency contacts. Other similar exercise or entertainment devices (such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,862,476, or Reharunner treadmills shown on the web site of Chinesport) generally have the same problems.
No seamless systems is available on the market that prevent, warn if a runner is about to fall, or notify emergency contacts in the even that a runner falls. Accordingly, there is a great need in the art for more improved safety devices.